Review and photos from last night’s Music Midtown show

The day before her 54th birthday, veteran rocker Joan Jett looked and acted every bit as energized as she did in her Runaways days, with red glitter pants and a black tank top to match her shock of black hair. Rolling through championed classics including “Bad Reputation,” “I Hate Myself For Loving You” and “Cherry Bomb,” Jett and her Blackhearts commanded the attention of the thousands of early-arrival attendees – particularly on a singalong of “Do You Wanna Touch Me?”

Read more: http://www.craveonline.com/music/articles/196505-music-midtown-review-a-photos

Reader submission: “My first Joan Jett concert”

Another new Jetthead story, this time from a 15 year old from Sweden. (Another Jett Eye Lock too.) Welcome to the fandom!

Okay so I saw that you would like to hear about our first joan jett concerts so I thought I’d tell you mine 🙂

It all started in december when my friend sent me a text saying that joan jett was comming to sweden, I got really exited and looked it up.

Joan Jett was comming to Sweden rock festival!!! I begged my dad that he would go with me since it was 4 hours away from where I live and I’m 15 so a bit hard to get there by myself.

6 months later on june 9th me and my dad got up in the morning and drove off. I was so exited, about one hour before joanie was going to play I was at the very front pressed against the fence I started to talk to another jetthead that was there to 🙂 and at the side of the sceen I saw joan standing we all started shouting and cheering.

At around 3 a clock she went on and she was so beautiful and amazing ♥ At one point during crimson and clover I swear she looked me in the eyes and it was soo cool.

That was the best day of my life so far 🙂

There where alot of other bands there too but none as good as joan 😀

I believe it. Thanks for sharing!

Reader submission: “My Joan Jett experience”

Hi! Let’s continue the good #HappyBDayJoanJett vibes with an incredibly eventful first-time Jetthead story, complete with a road trip, a Jett Eye Lock, and a chase scene. Judith, THANK YOU for sharing this!

Hello my name is Judith D. and I am 17 years old. I’m here to talk about my Joan Jett experience. To be completely honest I didn’t even know who this incredible woman was until the movie about the Runaways came out. Sure I knew the songs “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Bad Reputation”, but I didn’t know the artist. After watching the movie everything I did had to do with Joan Jett! I went out and bought a few of her albums and all i did was sit in my room and play them over and over again. I would spend hours just thinking about getting to know her (I still do). I was extremely fortunate when I got the chance to see her live in Turlock Ca. I planned to go months ahead, of course It took plenty of begging to get my parents to approve because it was a couple of hours away, but after realizing how much I loved her they just couldn’t say no. I got there as soon as the Stanislaus County  fair opened (around 5pm) and I went straight to the  stage. Unfortunately the seats right in front were taken but I still got front row but on the far left (her right). I stayed seated there until 8:30 when the show started. Seeing her up there was like no other feeling I had ever experienced. I knew the words to all of her songs and I just sang along throughout the whole show! I’ve never been the “party” type of girl but I completely let go at this concert, dancing harder than I ever have. My favorite part of this whole experience was during my favorite song “You Drive Me Wild”. Joan Jett was in the middle of the stage and all of a sudden she turns to her right and completely locks eyes with me. At this point I was freaking out! But then she kept looking at me and started walking towards me as she played her electric guitar. I was soooo excited that I froze up and like a scratched Cd I found myself repeating “I love you, I love you, I love you!!!” as I held up my hands into a heart shape. She said  I love you back, and from that moment on I knew i’d never be the same. I know she’s said it to many people before but just having her acknowledge the fact that I’m here on this earth and to know that she knows that I really do care about her and her music so much… Well, this just means everything to me. I wanted to meet her so bad that I attempted it about 3 or 4 times in that show alone. A couple minutes before the show I went to the side where there was a fence opening and all of a sudden some guy comes out and I asked him “is Joan back there?”  “she sure is” he responded. So then I started pleading to the man to let me see her! He seemed like a very nice guy, he let me in under the tent but then he said “oh I’m so sorry she was just here having a meet and greet” so she was gone and I of course was devastated. I later found out that the man who almost helped me meet Joan was the guy who feeds her and the band their food. Anyways, I was about to leave when some older looking gentleman came out, I think he had blonde short hair but I can’t really remember. I heard him say something about being Joan’s manager so I walked over to him and started begging him to let me see her he refused right away and said that he couldn’t allow me to see her cuz she was getting ready for the show. But he said the best he could do was give me her guitar pick, he pulled out a light blue shark tooth shaped pick with her name on it. I still don’t know If that really was her’s or not but I tell myself it is just so I can sleep at night 🙂 After the show I decided to try again and so I went to the back and ran through the gate. Now I don’t do things like this but i thought about how much of a badass Joan is… and I was scared to go through a fence?!? “what’s the worst that can happen?” I thought to myself. So I found myself being chased by like a 200 pound security guard. I was scared shitless but it was a rush! I didn’t want to get tackled so I obeyed his angry yells and ran out from behind the stage. At this point I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh at what just happened or cry because I failed at meeting my idol yet again. I stood outside of the fence waiting for Joan to come out in her grey van. Her van came out after about an hour and I could see her sitting in the back on the left side. There were two cops riding beside her van on huge horses. I found myself jogging in between the horses waving my hands like a crazy person trying to get Joan’s attention. I yelled her name and she turned to the left smiled and waved at me. At that point I knew it was to late to meet her so I stood back and watched her ride away,  she would soon be far away from me and I would once again be stuck In my room listening to her albums reminiscing on the day that I ALMOST met Joan Jett. I cried myself to sleep every night for about a week after this, I felt like shit. But I soon decided that instead of crying over Joan I wanted to show the world just how much this woman inspired me. I began working out everyday (I still am) and I decided to become a vegetarian, although it’s only been a few weeks I intend to keep this up for a VERY long time. I just can’t get over how gorgeous Joan looks at 52, and I want to look like that at her age too. I had also played guitar for a while but then I quit because I always thought that in order to play guitar you had to play lead. But seeing Joan up there rockin rhythm guitar made me realize just how important rhythm guitar is to rock n roll. So I recently picked up the guitar yet again and I’m even in a band now! This band isn’t exactly my type of music because they don’t play that much rock n roll but I want to use this as a learning experience and eventually form my own Rock ‘n’ Roll band. My 18th birthday is this Friday  on September 23, one day after Joan’s birthday! And all I would ever want for my birthday is to meet Joan Jett, it would mean absolutely EVERYTHING to me. I hope to one day have the opportunity to let her know just how much she inspired me. I am proud to be a Jetthead! Happy Birthday to the Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll!

Welcome to the Jetthead fandom, Judith! And a big thank you to Kristen Stewart for bringing you to us. ♥

Reader submission: “My first Joan Jett concert–York, PA”

One of our readers, Ashley, went to her first Joan Jett concert last Tuesday in York, PA, and she was kind enough to send me a note about the experience. Congrats Ashley!

I’ve been watching online videos of Joan performing a while now and my family decided it was time for my first concert, being they were all the same age as me when they went to their first concert(15). With that being said I just HAD to go see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The closest show at the time (of buying the tickets) was in Pennsylvania an hour away from Philly in York, its a 12 hour drive from were I live in Michigan to York so my family decided to make a road trip out of it. I was so eager to get to our seats if i had it my way we would have sat out side the gate the entire day. 14th row back towards the left of the stage 😀 the show blew my mind, shes as strong of a performer today as she ever was (not that I was doubting)……… but man something about seeing your idol on stage right there, In the flesh, its like a priest meeting God. I definitely see more Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in my future, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Joan in concert.

You drove 12 hours? You have me beat! The furthest I’ve ever driven to see Joan was Nashville, TN, about 9 hours away from me.

I was also at the York show (my 16th!), and I’m still working on my write-up. I’ll post it soon.

When was YOUR first Joan Jett concert? Email the story to born2bjetthead@gmail.com. I’d love to read it!

My 15th Joan Jett concert: Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland

Two years without seeing a Joan Jett concert does funny things to my brain. I’ve gone to great lengths to see her live before, but buying a membership to a museum six hours away from me just to get first crack at the good seats is the craziest thing I’ve done! But when I found out about the August 21st Blackhearts/ZZ Top show at the Calvert Marine Museum, I couldn’t stay away. I made my arrangements, picked up my sister in the middle of Pennsylvania, and took off for beautiful Solomons, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. Continue reading

Merry Jettmas to All! (Sorry Jesus.) ;)

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Christmas is here, Jettheads, the season of giving. This year, I’m hoping that a Joan Jett Barbie doll makes its way under my tree to keep my Edward doll company when I’m not home. My gift to you is this blog. Because I’m cheap awesome. 😀

While thinking about what I could write for you on such a festive holiday, I immediately remembered Christmas of 1991. I was 15. (Kristen Stewart was 1, for those keeping score at home.) Only one thing topped my wish list that year: tickets to my first-ever Joan Jett and The Blackhearts concert.

They were scheduled to play at Metropol (which no longer exists), in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday, January 10, 1992. As soon as I found out, I began the rather arduous begging process. My mother spoiled my sister and me rotten, but we could never take anything for granted. She was never afraid to say ‘no’, and our hi-pitched whining rarely penetrated her resolve once she had made up her mind. I had to tread carefully.

I had every reason to fear that I might not be able to go to this concert. This hadn’t been my first opportunity to see Joan live. She played at The Syria Mosque, which also no longer exists, sometime in 1989, but my mother refused to let me go. It was on a school night. No amount of begging and promising that I would get up on time the next day would sway her. I spent that entire night in my room, listening to my records in the dark, knowing that Joan Jett was less than three miles away. It was agony. Continue reading

More Joan Jett pics from 9/23 Pittsburgh show

Hello everyone,

I didn’t expect to take this long to post these, but I had to reformat my hard drive and I just got everything back up.

Here’s more pictures from the Clean Energy Jobs Now! rally on 9/23. Click for bigger:

Oh, and since I took all of my scenery shots from the Smithfield Street Bridge, I thought you might like to read more about it:

http://www.pghbridges.com/pittsburghW/0584-4476/smithfield.htm

Videos from the Pittsburgh Joan Jett show, 9/23/09

Here’s some videos of the Blackhearts’ show last night at the Clean Energy Jobs rally.

I Love Rock N Roll:

Do You Wanna Touch Me – She says YINZ!

Source

More after the jump: Continue reading

Joan Jett in Pittsburgh 9/23/09: Review and Pics!

I am a Pittsburgher, so last night’s free Joan Jett and the Blackhearts show at the “Clean Energy Jobs Now!” rally in Point State Park was the first Blackhearts show that I hadn’t had to travel for since Warped Tour 2006. It was also the first time The Blackhearts had played within the Pittsburgh city limits since the Coors Light Rib America Festival on June 21, 2002, at Heinz Field. (Warped Tour was in Burgettstown, an hour away.)

Rally banner on the United Steelworkers Union building

Rally banner on the United Steelworkers Union building

Read the rest after the jump!

Continue reading